1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hearing device, which can be fitted to a user's hearing preferences, and to a method for fitting a hearing device. The hearing device can be a hearing aid, worn in or near the ear or implanted, a headphone, an earphone, a hearing protection device, a communication device or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,204 two-channel hearing devices, in particular a headphone and a hearing aid, are known, which can be adapted to a user's hearing preferences or hearing imperfections, more particularly to compensate for differences between the perception in the left and the right ear. The hearing device can be connected to a personal computer, which personal computer has a user interface and contains a sound source as well as computation means. The user can choose a frequency and will thereupon hear an according sound from the sound source, downloaded to the hearing device. Via the user interface the user can then adjust the balance at that frequency until the sound is perceived centered between the left and right channels. This can be done for different frequencies, and thereafter the user can equalize the system to compensate for perceived differences in amplitude between different frequencies. After that, compensation coefficients are obtained by means of the personal computer. The compensation coefficients can be downloaded to the hearing device and can be used by a signal processor for providing for real-time equalization for each ear, so as to obtain corrected analog audio signals according to the user's hearing preferences.
In US 2003/0133578 A1 a hearing aid is presented, which can be audio-fitted by the user himself. The user can make pairwise comparisons between parameter settings (settings of gains, compression ratios, frequency values and the like) by toggling between the two different settings, and then choose that one setting which provides him with the better listening experience. Numerous such pairwise comparisons are necessary. By means of a genetic algorithm the numerous preferences, as derived from the user's choices, are converged and result in a single solution, which is expected to precisely fit the user's hearing needs.
The fitting procedure disclosed in US 2003/0133578 A1 requires to store a very large number of finally unused parameter settings. In addition, this fitting procedure is expected to take a considerable amount of time, due to the large number of required comparisons.